


Reunions and First Meetings

by Ydnam



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-01-27
Updated: 2013-01-27
Packaged: 2017-11-27 03:33:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,080
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/657579
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ydnam/pseuds/Ydnam
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Emma, Gold, and Henry find the person they've been looking for. He just happens to be someone they weren't looking for as well.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Reunions and First Meetings

**Author's Note:**

> This assumes Neal = Bae. I don't have any definitive knowledge on this subject though I believe it to be true and want it to be true.

Mr. Gold freezes outside the door. His hand had been raised to knock but now it hangs limply beside him. Emma looks at him with concern. Gold paralyzed with fright doesn’t fit into her worldview. 

“You’ll be fine,” she assures him. She doesn’t know the whole story behind the loss of his son. She’s fairly certain no one does besides Gold and the kid himself. Belle might have known but last Emma had heard Belle didn’t know much of anything anymore. 

“I won’t,” he says, voice barely a whisper. He’s shaking and that frightens her more than all his posturing ever could. He does terrifying things when angry, what might he be capable of when terrified?

“Want me to knock?” Henry smiles hopefully. This is still an adventure for him even after the death threat that started it all. He doesn’t believe Gold would hurt him and Emma suspects he might be right on that. She’s never seen him do anything to harm any of the kids in Storybrooke. That doesn’t quite fit with what she knows of Rumplestiltskin’s story but then the stories hadn’t prepared her for the real version of her parents, either.

Gold looks at the boy like he had forgotten he was there. Maybe he had. He shakes his head. “No, no. I need to do this.” He’s leaning heavily on his cane now and Emma worries he’ll fall over or have a heart attack or something. Medical emergencies weren’t part of her game plan. 

“We can go. Come back later,” she suggests. She doesn’t really want to but she doesn’t want him collapsing in front of her either and to be honest seeing him like this is scaring her and she doesn’t like that.

“No.” The word comes out harshly and there is a flicker there of the Gold she’s come to know. “No, I’m not running again.” That must have been the push he needed because after a long, shuddering breath his knuckles are knocking against the door. 

Emma isn’t sure what to expect when the door opens. Gold said he didn’t know how old his son was now. He could be an old man, he could still be a boy. Magic, as he repeats so often, can be unpredictable, and all he knows is that Baelfire is still alive.

She wasn’t expecting the face that greets them when they open the door. From his expression he wasn’t expecting any of them either. She pulls Henry close, instinctively protective, and keeps a wary eye on both men. 

The man looks at the three of them, mouth open in astonishment. His gaze flickers between Gold and Emma and finally lands on Henry as if perhaps the boy is the only safe person for him to look at. 

Henry breaks the silence with a bright “hi!”

The man licks his lips and swallows loudly. He looks as if he’s trying to speak but he can’t quite manage it. “Hey,” he finally croaks out quietly. 

Gold is staring at him like the rest of the world doesn’t exist and Emma finds it hard to look at his face. 

“Emma,” Neal says, because of course it’s Neal. Her life started in a storybook and this is exactly the sort of thing that happens to people in stories. 

She nods once and looks pointedly back at Gold who hasn’t moved and still is gazing at Neal like he’s finally found salvation.

“Papa?” Neal’s voice breaks on the word and to Emma he looks as if he is torn between rushing toward and away from the older man. She wonders which instinct will win out and if they’ll all survive the aftermath if Neal runs. 

“I’m so sorry Bae,” Gold gasps, and then suddenly he’s on the floor, slumped against the wall with his face buried in his hands. “I’m so sorry.”

“Papa?” Neal repeats. Emma is still watching him and still holding tightly to Henry in front of her but she thinks the other two have forgotten them completely. 

Gold won’t, or maybe can’t, look up and his voice is muffled by his hands. “I followed you as best I could. As soon as I could. I’m sorry. I’m so sorry.”

“You came.” Neal’s voice is clearly disbelieving and he reaches out a hand as he kneels down beside Gold. “How?”

“You don’t want to know.” Gold’s voice is stronger now though he still hasn’t raised his head. “I promise you, you don’t want to know.” Emma wonders if he’ll tell the truth if pressed or if he’ll leave out the most incriminating bits. Not that she’s in any position to judge. She told Henry his father died a hero and the reality of that story is right in front of their faces. 

“Later,” Neal says thickly. Maybe, Emma thinks, he doesn’t want to know the most unpleasant truths about his parent. Or maybe he just knows he can’t deal with the information on top of seeing his father and the girl he abandoned in the same place.

“C’mon,” she says to Henry, gently pulling him away. “We’ll go get you a hot chocolate. Gold, you call if you need anything.” There was a Starbucks across the street. She doesn’t feel right watching this reunion. The emotions are running high and she has no place here right now and neither does Henry. There will be time, later, to figure out the whole twisted family tree. If Neal bolts again maybe she won’t have to. 

Henry, being Henry, doesn’t want to go yet and instead drops down beside Gold and whispers something Emma can’t quite make out into his ear. Gold lifts his head up, looking for all the world like a startled rabbit. Emma wonders if the idea of being left alone with his son is what’s scaring him or if it’s something else. Henry helps Gold to his feet after whispering something else. It must have been encouraging because Gold nods and looks a little less like he’ll keel over any second.

“We’ll be right back,” Henry announces. “With hot chocolates for everyone.” He turns his most winning smile on Emma. “Right mom?”

Neal jerks his head in her direction when Henry calls her mom but she’s already turning and doesn’t stop. She’s not having this conversation right now. Right now she’s getting hot chocolate and hoping to whatever deity might be listening that Neal has something stronger stashed inside his apartment. They’re all going to need it.


End file.
